Amazon Terminates Associates’ Referral Fees for Paid Search
Amazon announced that affiliates, known internally to the Amazon program as Associates, will no longer receive referral fees for transactions that occur due to paid search. The move impacts both direct paid search referrals and one sent via paid search through an interstitial redirect page. Associates can use paid search to promote their own sites. Officially this change only impacts Associates within the US.
Although the cost and effort that comes with policing a program as large as Amazon’s may be a factor, we believe the primary reasons Amazon made this move are:
Facebook Officially Reaches 200 Million User Milestone
After weeks of speculation Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook has reached the 200 million user milestone. This is a drastic increase from official numbers back in January which listed 150 million users.
Shoemoney Sues Google AdWords Specialist
Jeremy Schoemaker, aka Shoemoney, has filed a lawsuit against a Google AdWords account specialist by the name of Keyen Farrell. The suit alleges that Farrell used his position internally at Google to bypass AdWords’ trademark protection to target the term “shoemoney” which is a trademark of ShoeMoney Media Group. For the moment neither Google nor Farrell has responded to the allegations.
Coupons.com Boasts 192% Increase
According to AdAge, Coupons.com reported $57 million dollars in coupons were printed by its users in March. This represents a 192% increase in coupon dollar value year-over-year. Not surprising when according to ComScore coupon sites were the second most visited category next to jobs on the internet.
Adgregate Signs Distribution Deal with DoubleClick
In a move to diversify their inventory DoubleClick has added the TechCrunch 50 startup Adgregate Markets to their distribution option for advertisers. Specifically DoubleClick will use Adgregate’s ShopAds widget to expand their rich media inventory. The widget, which can display in standard banner sizes, allows consumers to purchase displayed products within the banner display itself.
Cashing Out: Week of April 5 – 11th, 2009 in Online Marketing News
-They have an internal search team and they are worried about cannibalization between the two channels
-Over ten states have come out with affiliate taxes nicknamed the Amazon Tax focusing on Amazon as a target. Shifting to PPC in those states makes the most sense. Why pay search affiliates on a click that will be taxed when you have an internal team?
AffiliateVoice Launches
Having gathered steam on ABestWeb since January, the organization AffiliateVoice has finally launched. Spearheading the organization’s efforts is AffiliateVoice President Melanie Seery, who is the 2009 Pinnacle Award winner of the Affiliate Marketing Advocate Award from Affiliate Summit and one of the main organizers behind the New York Affiliates group. AffiliateVoice’s mission statement is to provide “a unified voice and representation for the improvement and growth of the Affiliate Industry”.
Scott Jangro, President MechMedia, created a great discussion about the launch of AffiliateVoice and how having two organizations might impact the affiliate industry. Read it here.